Prelude
by Lillith Eris
Summary: The story behind the Kul Elna tragedy and the boy who survived it.
1. Chapter 1

Introduction:

_For 5,000 years he harbored revenge for the massacre at his village. As he grew, so did his grudge against the pharaoh of Egypt. He witnessed the slaughter of his family and friends, murdered for the purpose of creating seven mystical Millennium Items to defend Egypt. He called himself the King of Thieves, though he is known to the world as Bakura._

_ Little is known about his past or the time between the events at Kul Elna and his movement against Pharaoh Atem and his court. All he reveals about himself is his lust for vengeance and his desire for a dark power to summon the evil god, Zorc Necrophades. Even his real identity remains a mystery, as it is highly unlikely that in canon the Thief King was named Bakura. Fans gave him the name "Akefia," which means "Thief King" in Japanese, and is not at all canon. In the context of the shadow RPG between Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura, the Thief King is a pawn, and nothing is known of his fate 5,000 years in the past, or of his heritage and back story. All we know is that he is the last remaining survivor of the "Village of Thieves," Kul Elna._

_ For the purposes of this story and its exploration into the Thief King's past, he will be referred to as "Bakura." This takes place before the events at Kul Elna, while Aknemkhanen still reigned as Pharaoh._

_ Though this contains original characters, it sticks strictly to the events and facts either stated or alluded to in the manga and Kazuki Takahashi's original ideas. Some facts that were not addressed in the series, such as Bakura's familial relationships, were developed to further the reader's understanding of the Thief King's past. Also, factual references to the history of ancient Egypt and the mythological beliefs of the Egyptians, like the Egyptian gods' roles and their theory about life after death, were researched to provide a truer feeling to the time in which the story takes place. _

_Author's disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! and the character of Bakura belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. Any events or characters in this story are fictional and any resemblance to modern-day events or people is purely coincidental._

_Note: There is a chapter guide at the end of each chapter containing character's names and meanings as well as information on the Egyptian gods and mythology._

1.

_The sunrise is a beautiful sight. But how was I to know that the bloodred sky reflected the carnage soon to fall upon my people? _

He usually took time in the morning to admire the sun rising. The knowledge that the sun god, Amun, had successfully made his journey across the sky brought the young boy comfort. He waved at the sun, welcoming it back from the long night's pursuit. He loved hearing the story every time his older sister retold it. His smile was as full as the bucket of water he carried from the river. Though still quite small, he took pride in carrying the pail that was half as big as he was.

"Bakura!" a warm voice greeted him as he waddled into the small hut, and gentle hands relieved him of the heavy burden. "Thank you," his sister said, ruffling his white hair as she took the pail. "You must be getting strong, carrying that bucket!"

"Of course!" Bakura replied, flexing his arms. "See, Chione? Soon I'll be able to wrestle Buikhu!"

Chione laughed. "Try not to get ahead of yourself, little brother," she advised. "Now wash up. You know what today is."

Bakura groaned. "Cleaning," he grumbled.

Chione gave him a stern glare. She pulled her long black hair behind her head with a ribbon. The ring that their mother had given to her sparkled on her right pinky– it was the only valuable item they owned, and probably the only gold item in the village not stolen from a tomb. Bakura knew that his older sister detested the tomb robbers, though they resided in the town publicly referred to as the "Village of Thieves." Chione often reiterated that Kul Elna was her personal hell on earth. A majority of the residents were well aware that Kemnebi's daughter longed to escape the place… and was unable to. Bakura struggled to understand why she did not simply take him and leave, but Chione never revealed that to him, and he never asked.

"Don't complain," Chione sniffed, wringing out a rag. "We have such a small home that it only takes the morning." She tossed Bakura the damp cloth and said, "I will air out the sheets. You can have the surfaces." She picked up the bedclothes from the cot they shared and swept from the house to the sunny outdoors. "Get to it!" she ordered. Because she was much taller than her brother, Chione always took the laundry job. Most of the village men had figured this out and waited for her. A majority of the time, she ignored them, and only spoke to them if they approached her with friendly conversation, which they rarely did. Bakura felt that the one flaw of the village men was what they lacked; tact and manners. Gifted with those two talents, a man could probably court Chione with success. Were their parents still alive, Chione would have been married off for a dowry by then, but instead of finding a husband, Chione had focused her efforts into protecting and raising her little brother, for which Bakura was grateful.

As he dusted off the surfaces, which Chione kept orderly anyway and barely required any cleaning at all, he heard a man's voice outside the door. Curious, Bakura crept to the entryway and peered outside. His brown eyes widened. It was Chione… and she was talking to a man without a disgruntled look on her face, which took Bakura by surprise.

He recognized the man speaking to her; it was Buikhu, Bakura's idol and the village's famous warrior. Bakura was tempted to leave the house and speak to him, but he had a strong feeling that if he interrupted, Chione would make him pay later.

"You look as lovely as ever," Buikhu commented. Chione's lips curled in a small smile that she hid from Buikhu. Bakura held back a snicker. "How are you, Chione?"

Chione continued hanging the sheets as she conversed with him. "I am quite well, thank you, sir," she answered. Bakura reckoned that Buikhu was the only man Chione treated with genuine respect, which was a good start. "And yourself?"

"You do not have to call me 'sir,' Chione," Buikhu said, shrugging his chiseled, tanned shoulders. "You know that."

"I do, however, it would be rude to address you otherwise," Chione replied as she finished hanging one sheet and started on the next. Buikhu blinked and continued on.

"How goes your little brother, Bakura?" Buikhu inquired in an attempt to continue the conversation.

"Oh, he's healthy and happy," Chione responded. "Though I daresay I'm almost running out of stories to tell him every night."

"How are you both holding up after…" Buikhu trailed off. Chione's face fell. Not long ago, desert bandits had slain their father and four fellow villagers. He had left his two children with nothing but each other. Bakura had not been close with his father; it was Chione who had been her father's daughter until the end, and his death had carved a deep cavern in her heart. Since their mother had died immediately following Bakura's birth, Bakura had spent his life seeing Chione as a sister and a mother, and Chione had taken these duties seriously.

Chione hesitated momentarily before answering. "We… we're making it work," she said quietly. "I do not believe Bakura was horribly affected by our father's death, and he accepted it with a maturity I would not have expected of him. For someone of his age, he seemed to understand it very well."

Buikhu nodded. "Your little brother is remarkably grown up for a child so young," he commented.

"I have noticed," Chione said. "Sometimes I feel he understands things better than I." She smoothed the hanging sheet thoughtfully.

Bakura leaned forward, immersed in the conversation now that it involved him.

Just as Buikhu opened his mouth to speak again, a coarse yell interrupted him. "Buikhu!"

Bakura groaned inwardly; it was the village fool, Ialu, whose smell was about as attractive as his unkempt hair and leathery face. Chione visibly shuddered and turned away. Buikhu rolled his eyes. "What is it, Ialu?" he asked dryly.

"Adjo and Baraka ambushed a couple of bandits a short time ago, and dragged them here!" Ialu gasped, his piggy eyes shining. "It's the same few who killed Kemnebi and the others!"

Buikhu's eyes flew wide. "Is this true?"

Ialu nodded eagerly. "Yes, sir! They said it themselves! Come quickly, we'll see how the village men deal with them!"

As soon as the bandit's identity had been said, Bakura's gaze had immediately gone to his sister. Chione had frozen where she stood, her face blank and her hands shaking. "Come, Chione," Buikhu pressed. "We can see the faces of your father's killers."

"I-I'd rather stay with Bakura," she whispered, lowering her hands. "Will you… will you kill them?"

Buikhu's silence told her everything. She stepped towards the door and Bakura scrambled to the middle of the room so she wouldn't catch him eavesdropping. As soon as she set foot in the hut, she narrowed her eyes at him. "I know you heard everything," she said coldly. Bakura swallowed.

Buikhu poked his head into the hug. "Come along, Chione," he requested. "It could be fun."

"You think killing is fun," Chione murmured. "Go and enjoy yourself. I will not go with you."

Buikhu shrugged. "Very well, if that's what you choose. Come, Ialu," he ordered his companion, who shrieked and rushed to follow him.

Bakura got to his feet and approached Chione. "Don't you want to see them kill those bandits?" he inquired.

The look Chione gave him was sad and distant. "No, I do not."

"But they killed Father!" Bakura insisted. "Don't you want revenge?"

Chione shook her head, her fine features twisted in an emotion Bakura couldn't read. "Revenge will not bring Father back from the dead," she spat. "Revenge does nothing except destroy more lives. If those bandits feel any remorse for what they did, then so be it. If not, let their hearts be devoured by Ammut when their time comes to be judged."

Loud voices rioting in the village center reached the two siblings. Bakura left the house in an attempt to view what was going on. He was curious to see the people who had murdered Father, though not because he desired revenge. "Get back inside," Chione ordered sharply, but Bakura did not obey. "Get inside, _now,_" she repeated. Reluctantly, Bakura followed her order and sat at the table with her. In the center, the villagers chanted and laughed. Then, one by one, human screams rent the air. Chione flinched visibly and covered her face with her hands. Bakura assumed that the criminals were being killed. He didn't feel sorry for them at all. He wasn't sure that he felt anything at all, other than a vague interest.

Bakura crawled around the table's edge to sit beside Chione, and he put his hands on her arms, hoping to give her some kind of comfort. She responded to his touch and lowered her hands. Bakura was shocked to see that tears flowed from her eyes. Could she be feeling pity for the bandits that had slain Father?

"Why?" she croaked. "Why must they take human lives?"

_Because they want to make the bandits pay for their crimes, _Bakura wanted to answer, but he figured Chione's was a rhetorical question and did not warrant a verbal response. Confused by his sister's reaction to the events, Bakura rose from his seat and tentatively crept towards the door. Chione did not stop him or call him back, so he took advantage of her silence and exited the hut. He made his way to the village center where the townspeople still gathered and scoffed over the bandit's dead bodies. As he observed the corpses, his nose wrinkled in distaste at the bloodscent. Yet in seeing the bandits, Bakura felt somehow satisfied. _They deserved it, _he thought smugly.

But if they deserved it, why did he feel so sick inside?

Bakura spent a long time looking at the bandits' bodies with a sort of sick awe. He had never seen a bloody corpse before, but instead of nausea, he felt… curious. The villagers went about their business as if nothing had happened, which Bakura did not understand; they had just killed two men, yet they seemed oblivious to the bodies in the center. He heard them muttering to each other; "Serves them right." Yet Chione's words remained in his mind, the warning about vengeance.

"Bakura." The young boy jumped at his sister's murmur. Chione knelt next to him, looking at the bandits with a sad expression on her face. She closed her eyes and put her hands together. Bakura saw that she was praying over them.

"Why do you pray for them?" Bakura questioned.

She was silent for a moment before responding. "Why not?"

"They killed Father," Bakura replied, and then added, "I'm glad they're dead."

Immediately, he wished he had not said it. Chione's expression caused guilt to wash over him like the Nile.

"We should never rejoice in the taking of another human's life," Chione reprimanded softly. "Killing is against the gods' wills, it is not to be done."

"But they deserved it… didn't they?" Bakura ventured.

Chione sighed and leaned back on her heels. "It is not our place to judge," she explained. The midday sun reflected on her soft features and the shadows on her faced moved as she spoke. "Only the gods may pass judgement on a soul. When the soul reaches Osiris, they will suffer for the sins they have committed while they were alive. They will pay by existing in eternal darkness. And who are we to call another man guilty?" She seemed to be speaking more to herself now. "If a man murders another man's brother, and the man whose brother was killed murders the other in retaliation… they do not see it as wrong, they see it as atonement. Only the gods know what is right and what is wrong."

Chione turned to Bakura. "Maybe you are too young to understand quite yet," she commented. "Come along, little one." She took hold of his hand and began to lead him away. "I hope they remove those bodies tonight," she muttered. Hand in hand, they walked the rest of the way to their hut in silence.

_End of Chapter 1 notes:_

Characters:

Chione (SHEE-own)- Bakura's big sister. Her name means "Mythical Daughter of the Nile." She is fifteen years old, modern-time.

Buikhu (BWEE-coo)- Warrior whose name means "the Best." He is 19 years old, modern time.

Ialu- (Ee-AHH-loo) name means "Field of Dreams." Relatively the same age as Buikhu.

Kemnebi- (Kem-NEH-bee) -Chione and Bakura's late father. The name means "Black Panther."

Mythological references:

1.) In ancient Egyptian mythology, it was believed that the sun god Amun was pursued across the sky by Set, Osiris's evil brother, the god of destruction. The sun rose every morning because Amun won the battle. Their judgement day would occur when Amun lost the battle and the world would be bathed in eternal night.

2.) Ammut is the crocodile goddess who devours men's hearts if they are heavier than the feather of Ma'at when being judged by Osiris, before passing to the afterlife.


	2. Chapter 2

2.

_ If I could have one wish, I'd wish for a family._

Though the rest of that day passed uneventfully, the aura between Bakura and Chione remained tense. Bakura tread on cautious feet around his older sister, as if talking would provoke a rebuke, though she seemed too enveloped in her own thoughts to pay him much heed.

When Chione walked down to the river to bathe, Bakura remained behind. The battle between Amun and Set had not yet begun, so he sat outside the hut, his back against the wall. As he settled down, he saw a few of the village men carrying the bandits' bodies outside of the town for burial. _Chione will be relieved, _Bakura thought. Now that the blood had dried, the corpses looked ghastly, and Bakura squirmed uncomfortably. He watched them go out of sight and hugged his knees to his chest, the evening wind fingering his white hair.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Bakura felt another man's presence and looked up. Buikhu stood beside him. He nodded, and Buikhu seated himself. "Nice night," Buikhu observed casually.

Bakura nodded again, his eyes focused on his hands. Buikhu canted his head. "Not very talkative tonight, are you?"

Bakura shook his head and set his chin on his knees. "What's the matter?" Buikhu inquired, concerned.

"It's… It's Chione," Bakura finally replied. "She's acting strange."

"It's the bandits," Buikhu said. "She wasn't happy with the way they were dealt with."

"She said that it wasn't right to kill other people, and that the gods would be angry."

Buikhu sighed. "In my opinion, Chione worries too much about what the gods think."

"Her faith is strong," Bakura said shortly, finding Buikhu's words slightly offensive. "That's what Father always said."

"Because that's all she has," Buikhu commented. "Her faith, and you. I think that's why she always argues with Ialu about you."

"She argues about me? With Ialu?" Bakura asked, surprised. "Why?"

"Because he thinks you're going to be a good tomb raider, and Chione is adamant that you will never go into that profession," Buikhu answered.

Bakura wrinkled his nose. "I don't want to be a tomb raider," he stated. "Stealing is bad."

"I don't much like it either, to be honest," Buikhu admitted. "But it keeps my family and friends alive, so…"

"You only do it because you have to, right?" Bakura said eagerly. Like Chione, he hated the idea of defiling a dead person's tomb, and didn't want to think badly of Buikhu, either.

"If I could make a living doing anything else, I would," Buikhu responded, and inwardly, Bakura was relieved.

"Did the bandits' deaths really affect Chione that much?" Buikhu questioned. "One would think she would feel more at ease now that her father's killers are gone. They would only have killed more people if let alone."

_That's true, _Bakura realized. The bandits would have accrued more victims if they had not been brought to justice. Brought to justice… how would Chione react to that term?

"Perhaps I should talk to her," Buikhu mused.

"She's bathing right now," Bakura told him. "I wouldn't talk to her unless you want your legs broken."

"I'll wait for her to get back," Buikhu decided. "Until then…" He turned to Bakura, a playful glint in his eyes. "How am I doing so far?"

"With what?" The little boy was perplexed.

"With Chione," Buikhu pressed. "Do you think I have a chance?"

"Uh… I don't know," Bakura replied, rather taken aback by the question. "I think she likes you more than any of the other men in the village."

Bakura's response seemed to elate Buikhu, and a wide smile crossed his face. He winked at Bakura. "I want to marry her," Buikhu whispered.

"I know," Bakura answered immediately, which was true; everyone knew that Buikhu was determined to have Chione as his bride. It was only a matter of time before Chione relented to his advances. "But I don't think she's ready to marry yet."

"Why not?"

"I don't know," Bakura said. "She just never seems interested. Sometimes I wish she would. Then the other men wouldn't come around and bother us so often…"

"Like Ialu?" Buikhu hit it right on the nose. Ialu, no matter how many times Chione turned him down, always came right back like a dog.

Bakura nodded fervently. "Sometimes I wish she'd get married to get rid of him. But really, she seems so against marriage, and I don't know why."

"Maybe you could convince her," Buikhu suggested. Bakura could tell that the young man had been preparing for this moment for a long time.

"You want me to get her to marry you?" Bakura assumed. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"

"I've tried, but I never get the chance." Buikhu's face soured, as if his failed attempts lingered in his heart.

Bakura blinked, utterly nonplussed. Surely it couldn't be that hard to ask a girl for marriage. It was just a question, after all. However, Buikhu wasn't the only one who wanted to see himself with Chione– if he was honest with himself, Bakura wanted Chione to marry Buikhu as well. Maybe it was because a union between Buikhu and Chione would create a family, a family he could be a part of, and as long as he'd lived, his family had not been the definition of "complete."

"All right, I'll talk to her for you," Bakura relented. "But then you have to ask her afterwards." He held out his hand, and Buikhu took it. They shook on the promise. It felt… weird, having a grown man ask him to talk to his sister about marriage.

Buikhu looked up, and jumped to his feet. "Here she comes," he said excitedly, and waved at Bakura. "Hathor help me. Good luck," he added, and strode briskly away.

Bakura waved after him, unsure that the conversation had really happened. Chione approached him, her dark hair wrapped in a cloth to dry it. "Was that Buikhu?" she asked.

Bakura nodded, and stood. "What did you two talk about?" she inquired. It was casual, but Bakura could sense curiosity in her sentence.

"Nothing really," Bakura said nonchalantly. He wouldn't go into it right away. It required some amount of luring before going into the serious information. "Just how annoying Ialu is."

Chione rolled her brown eyes and stepped inside the hut with a long sigh. "I wish I knew how to get rid of him. He never goes away."

"You could get married," Bakura blurted out, then bit his tongue and inhaled sharply. He could have kicked himself– this required perfect timing, and that had come out too soon.

Chione's eyebrows went so high they threatened to leave her forehead. "What?"

There was no going back now. He was stuck.

"You could get married," Bakura continued meekly. "Then he would have to give up… right?"

His sister stared at him for a few moments, and then started to laugh. When she realized that Bakura was serious, she said, "I don't want to get married."

"Do you want Ialu to keep coming around here every night?" Bakura sniffed. "I don't. I think he's disgusting. Besides, Mother was married at your age."

Chione pulled the cloth from her hair. "Those were different circumstances."

"Are you doing this because of me?" Bakura asked. "Because I won't mind if you get married. It would be kind of like having a family again."

The young girl froze in the middle of brushing her hair. Though her back was to him, he could see her go rigid. Then she relaxed. "I guess that was part of it," she admitted. "But most of it is, I just don't love any of them."

"Could you love any of them?" Bakura persisted. He had promised Buikhu, and by the gods, he was going to do his part.

"You don't under–" Chione began, but Bakura interrupted.

"Maybe I am too young to understand 'love' and all of that, but I don't see what's wrong with getting married. All the other girls your age are married."

"They were forced into it," Chione stated.

"But you can choose because you have no one to force you," Bakura continued. "And I know how you feel about Buikhu, he's the only one who can make you smile."

Chione tilted her head thoughtfully. "Buikhu, hmm? He's a good man, but… he's also a tomb robber."

"So are all the others," Bakura pointed out. "And he only does it to support his family. There's no other way to make a living around here. You could at least give him a chance."

She gave him a piercing stare. "You give a good argument, little brother," she sighed. "Fine, I'll do as you say. But I haven't made up my mind yet," she added sternly, before Bakura could react. She put her hands on her hips. "So that's what you and Buikhu were talking about. You little conspirators!" she laughed, and wrapped her arms around Bakura, messing up his hair with one hand while keeping him firmly clenched in the other. He struggled and resisted, to no avail, but mostly he felt relieved. Perhaps they were on a road back to building a family again.

That lay on Chione's shoulders, and above everything, Bakura hoped she chose to complete that wish.

End of Chapter Two notes:

1.) Girls in Egypt married at the age of fourteen. The bride's family gave a dowry, or an amount of money, to the bridegroom and his family.

2.) Hathor is the ancient Egyptian goddess of love. She is often shown as a woman with a cow's head.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

_Why must people lose the joy of childhood? If only they had the mind of a child, they wouldn't be so quick to hate._

Mid-afternoon, Chione and Bakura were distracted from their conversation by the sound of horses' hooves and raised voices. They hastened to see what caused such a commotion. Bakura thought that perhaps a home had caught fire– Ialu's, preferably– but this was not the case.

When they joined the gathering crowd and looked to the center, Chione, who was taller than Bakura, gasped and clutched her little brother's shoulders. "What is it?" he demanded. Her horrified silence worried him.

"Pharaoh Aknemkhanen's soldiers and one of his priests," she whispered, as if she feared being overheard.

"What are they doing here?" Bakura inquired curiously, attempting without success to see the soldiers.

Chione shook her head, perplexed. "I-I don't know," she stuttered. Bakura's curiosity overcame him, and he pushed his say through the crowd. "Bakura!" Chione hissed, but her hand missed his arm.

He made it to the front and almost barreled into one of the soldiers. Luckily, he was small enough to avoid notice.

"Where is Kemnebi?" the man leading bellowed. Bakura guessed that this was the priest– his attire, the waistband plaited with gold, and the serpent goddess Sekhmet headdress, and his staff labeled him as a high-ranking official.

"Kemnebi is dead," a voice called out. "Bandits killed him."

After his initial surprise, a sneer crawled across the priest's face. Sudden and unbidden hatred pierced Bakura's heart. The man smirked at his father's death? Bakura had always thought of priests as holy messengers of the gods, not as cruel beings.

"A fitting end for that traitor," the priest commented smugly. Bakura clenched his fists in anger.

"Akhom, priest of Horus," Buikhu stepped forward. "Kemnebi did not betray you."

"Do not speak without permission, commoner," Priest Akhom spat. "Kemnebi was a tomb guardian before he turned traitor and began raiding the tombs he once protected."

"If I remember correctly," one of the Kul Elna elders croaked, "Kemnebi commanded the black panther, a spirit creature from the Shrine of Uadjit. You, Akhom, were unable to do the same and in your jealousy banished him for dark magic."

Akhom's face flushed. "In all of Khemet, only he could create and sustain a spirit ka. Surely he tampered with dark magic known only to the evil sorcerers of long ago."

"Or," the elder suggested in a neutral tone, "he had spiritual powers greater than anyone else's. Given the evidence, I'd say you betrayed Kemnebi, Akhom. And he turned out of bitterness. It only takes one wound to turn a man's heart."

Murmurs of assent rippled through the crowd. It comforted Bakura to know that even in a "Village of Thieves" there were wise ones.

Buikhu crossed his arms and cocked his head. "Why are you here?" he demanded.

"To see for myself if the village of tomb robbers is really as twisted as I've heard. And the rumors were right." A cruel grin twisted Akhom's thin lips. His pointed chin tilted upward. "You won't be missed."

Confused mutters rose like a wave through the gathered crowd. "What do you mean?" someone shouted.

"I need not explain myself to the lowly," Akhom snapped. "I've seen all I needed." He turned his horse around, but Buikhu jumped forward and grabbed the reins, his handsome face cold and angry.

"You dare to disrespect Kemnebi, and then you threaten us and leave?" Buikhu growled.

"Unhand me, or I shall have you slaughtered right now," Akhom threatened.

Buikhu gave a sneer to match Akhom's. "The gods will judge you," he warned.

Akhom swept his stall full-circle, and struck Buikhu's head. Buikhu skidded across the dusty ground, where he lay, stunned. A commotion broke out, and in the chaos, Bakura was shoved directly into Akhom's path.

"SILENCE!" Akhom cried. The noise didn't die, though many turned to look. The priest searched for a way to stop the dissent, and his gray eyes found Bakura. Bakura's body froze with fear. Akhom slid off his steed and stalked over to the terrified boy. Then his hand swooped outward and snatched a fistful of the child's white hair. "SILENCE, or I shall kill this unsightly boy!"

The crowd stood still; but instead of releasing Bakura, Akhom raised his staff. "Let this be a lesson to ye who defy me!"

Bakura cried out, but faster than humanly possible, Chione was there. Bakura saw her face, contorted with rage; she looked like a wildcat as she launched herself at Akhom. She slammed her open palm across Akhom's face. The force of her blow sent Akhom sprawling into the dirt. Chione hovered over him, trembling, breathing like a winded rhinoceros. As the dust settled, Chione seemed to regain her bearings, and suddenly Bakura realized that his sister had reacted purely on instinct. She faced him and fell to her knees. Her hands cupped his face. "Are you alright, Bakura?" she asked shakily.

He gave her a weak nod. The whole attack had been so unlike Chione that he wondered if she actually had done it.

Akhom struggled to his feet. Blood dripped from his newly broken nose. "You… you…" he sputtered, as if he couldn't find a horrible enough word for Chione. "You _whore!" _

Chione turned around; as soon as she had, Akhom snatched a spear from one of his soldiers and slashed it across Chione's front. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in an 'o' of surprise and pain. Blood spurted from her torso. She collapsed to the ground. Bakura screamed and crumpled beside her, frightened tears pouring down his cheeks. He called Chione's name, and wrapped his little arms around her neck as if to protect her as she had protected him.

Akhom tossed the spear back to the soldier, his nose wrinkled with distaste at the injured girl. "I've done enough here." And without another word, he led his entourage away. Bakura paid him to heed; his attention was focused on Chione, whose face continued to grow paler. Her eyes were half-open, as if she was semi-conscious.

Buikhu crouched beside Chione. "Hurry, we'll get her inside. I can try to stop the bleeding now." He tore his own shirt and pressed it to Chione's wound. They watched in horror as blood soaked through. He and another village boy hoised Chione between them and carried her into Buikhu's home. Bakura stumbled after them, his sister's blood staining his hands and the front of his cloth tunic.

When Bakura reached the doorway, Buikhu's mother stopped him. "You'll only get in the way here," she told him. "Go wash. We'll take care of Chione," she promised him gently.

Bakura nodded blankly and wandered to the river. Unconsciously, his feet carried him there. He knelt beside it, dipped his fingers in the flowing water, and watched as his tears, his sadness, his fear, mingled with the river's comforting rhythm. The voice that rippled with the waves whispered words of renewal and strength, just like Chione's songs.

After their father's death, Chione had stopped singing. She continued to tell her wonderful stories, but the drama and joy she once expressed had diminished. Bakura saw it happen to adults when they got older. Grown-ups got boring. They didn't want to play anymore. Chione, Bakura realized with dread, was growing up. Had Father's death shoved her into an adult position and forced her to grow up?

Bakura wriggled his bare toes in the sand, his mind whirring in a dozen different directions. His worry for his sister, his anger at Akhom, his confusion regarding adults– all these shot off the sides of his skull like many locusts. He couldn't get Akhom's comments regarding his father out of his mind. It sounded like Kemnebi had once been the pharaoh's priest, but Akhom had expelled him for using black magic.

A spirit _ka. _That's what Akhom had said. It sounded like some kind of spirit animal. Bakura had never heard of it before. Was it like a ghost that a person's soul created? If he had an animal what would it be?

"Bakura, there you are." Buikhu approached him by the river. "Are you hurt?"

"No," Bakura answered, still looking down at the water. "I'm alright."

Buikhu sat down beside the little boy. "Chione's going to be fine," he said. Bakura's shoulders relaxed. "She'll have a scar though."

"You don't mind," Bakura said.

Buikhu grinned slightly. "No, I don't. Anyway, it's getting late, and you don't want to be out here on your own after dark."

Bakura nodded, rose with Buikhu, and followed him back to the village. But he couldn't get the idea of a powerful creature out of his thoughts.

End of chapter three notes:

Characters:

Akhom: Pharaoh's priest of Horus. Name means "eagle."

Khemet- the Egyptian name for Egypt. "Egypt" is actually Greek. (You may hear many of the characters referring to Egypt as "Khemet.") The Egyptians were called "Khemetians," and the Egyptian gods had different names in Khemetian, though for the purposes of this story they will be referred to by their Greek and common names.

Mythological references:

The priests of Horus were the scribes and magicians. Horus was the all-seeing son of Osiris and Isis, often shown as a falcon.

Uadjit- the patron and protector of Lower Egypt and upon unification with Upper Egypt, the join protector of all Egypt. Usually depicted as a snake-headed woman. Her oracle may have been the source for the oracular tradition that spread to Greece from Egypt.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

_There is nothing more painful than anger between loved ones._

The shadows had begun to creep across the ground by the time Buikhu and Bakura returned to the village. Bakura hadn't realized that he'd been absent for such a long time. He glimpsed Buikhu's home and charged ahead, beating Buikhu to the door. He stepped in and anxiously glanced around.

"Ah, Bakura," Buikhu's mother, Shukura, approached him. "Good, you're back."

"Where's Chione?" Bakura demanded. "Is she alright?"

Buikhu's mother gave him a kind smile. "She'll be fine," she assured him. "She's a tough one, your sister."

"Can I see her?" he asked.

Shukura nodded. "Come," she said, and gestured for him to follow her. She led him into a bedroom leading off the main entryway. "In here." She allowed him to enter before her. He approached the bed in the room's corner, on which lay his sister. Over the course of the day she seemed to have regained some of her color, though he still thought she looked rather pale.

"Chione…?" he whispered, leaning over her.

Her eyes blinked open and slowly focused on him. When she saw him beside her, she smiled weakly. "Oh, hello, Bakura," she murmured. "I wondered where you'd gone."

"I went down to the river," he told her, crawling up onto the bed and sitting on the end. "Like you do."

She canted her head. "You look like you've something on your mind," she commented.

Bakura bit his lower lip and shrugged. "I… I was thinking about what that priest said… about Father."

Chione's eyes narrowed dangerously. Bakura shrunk away, regretting that he'd asked the question. "You mustn't listen to anything palace dwellers say about Father," she said harshly. "Father left because he could do something the others couldn't, and was rejected because of it. It wasn't 'black magic' or 'evil sorcery.' He had power, and they were afraid of him."

There was resentment in her tone, a negativity that Bakura had never heard before. Chione spoke again, and her face continued to darken. "Father may have turned from the pharaoh's way of life, but that didn't make him wrong. Just because Father chose a path different from Akhom's or the other priests', that doesn't make him evil!"

Bakura listened; he felt that she had been holding these sentiments inside her heart for quite some time. He pulled his knees into his chest and watched her intently. She met his eyes and her face fell. She suddenly looked exhausted, and sad. "I'm sorry, I'm not angry at you. It's that… I miss Father," she sighed. "I miss him every day, and it gets harder and harder to listen to those who would blacken my memories of him." She turned her eyes to her brother. "Father was a good man," she said. Bakura sensed desperation there, as though she was attempting to convince herself.

"Akhom is a cruel person," Bakura pointed out. "I won't believe what he says, I think he's a liar."

Chione's lips turned upward in a small smile. "Good," she replied.

"Was Father really able to create a spirit animal?" Bakura asked, unable to contain his curiosity any longer.

Chione sighed. "Yes, he was," she answered quietly. "He was the first in many decades."

"What's a _ka?_" Bakura inquired eagerly, now that she seemed willing to talk.

"There are two parts to a spirit," Chione told him. "The _ba _and the _ka._" She raised her hands, each representing a part. "The _ba,_" she continued, holding up her right hand, "is the part of the spirit that influences how a person acts. It's their personality. For example, the _ba _of a kindhearted person may cause them to help other people, while the _ba _of a wicked person causes them to hurt others." She then motioned with her left hand. _"_Then there's the _ka._ The _ka _is the life force of every living thing. It is spirit energy, and it is the _ka _that goes to the afterlife. In order for a soul to exist in Osiris's Land of the Dead, the _ba _and _ka _must merge." At this point her two hands met.

"Now a spirit _ka _is created when a person has an unusually large amount of life energy, enough to sustain another sentient being. This _ka _usually takes on the form of an animal that represents a person's _ba _or character. The user sustains it with _heka_, or magic. Have I lost you yet?"

Bakura, who was still trying to grasp the differences between the two and failing, shook his head slowly. Chione giggled. "It's all right," she told him. "You'll understand eventually."

"Can you fight with this spirit _ka_?" Bakura questioned.

"Yes," Chione replied. "Long ago, the priests used their spirit _ka_ to defend the kingdom. But then the power corrupted them, and they were sealed away. The art of magic was sealed in the Millennium Tome… or so I've heard."

"In a tomb?" Bakura repeated. "Did they bury it with somebody?"

"No," Chione chuckled. "A tome. It's a large book, filled with shadow alchemy that teaches the ways to turn ordinary objects into gold."

Bakura's eyes widened. "You can turn things into gold?" he gasped.

"Well, I don't really know," she admitted. "It's only a rumor, after all."

"Do you think that if a person trained really hard, they could create a spirit _ka _as well?" Bakura wondered.

Chione shrugged, though the look she gave him was slightly worried. "I'm not sure," she said slowly. "Father had trained in the temple for many years before he discovered his spirit creature. Why?"

"I was just curious," he said hastily. Silence fell between them for what seemed like a long time. Bakura had just one more question to ask her, but he wasn't sure how to word it. "Do… do you have any more stories?"

She blinked. "Stories? What kind?"

"Like the ones you used to tell me. You stopped telling them. I liked those stories."

"Oh." She thought back for a moment. "I'm trying to think of a new one that maybe you haven't heard. I've been telling you stories since you were born, I'm beginning to repeat some of them."

"I don't mind," he assured her.

For the first time, she seemed unhappy about it. "I'm not sure I can think of any right now," she admitted. "Maybe tomorrow."

His face fell in disappointment. "Oh, alright."

Shukura popped her head into the room. "Bakura, it's time to leave Chione alone. Come now," she said.

Bakura slid off the bed. Chione beckoned him closer. "Come here," she requested. He did as he was asked. She reached out and took him by the arms and, pulling him closer, kissed him lightly on the forehead. "Good night," she murmured. He smiled at her, waved, and followed Shukura out into the main room.

Shukura put her arm on his shoulder. "You'll be staying with us tonight," she said. "I assumed you didn't want to stay in your house all by yourself."

Bakura shook his head. "I'd rather be with Chione."

She nodded. "I prepared a sleeping place for you. You and Buikhu will be sleeping in this room tonight. I and my husband will be in the other room if you need us. Good night." She patted him once on the head and left.

Bakura walked to the bed Shukura had prepared for him and sat down on it, letting out a long sigh and putting his chin on his knees. Buikhu, who had gone to talk to Chione, joined him. "Long day?" he asked, ruffling Bakura's white hair.

Bakura replied with another sigh. Buikhu gave him a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry," he told Bakura, "everything will be fine."

Though Bakura's reaction was a nod, inside, he wasn't so sure. As he lay down to sleep, what Chione had told him about the spirit _ka _continued to run over and over again in his mind…

End of Chapter Four notes:

Characters:

Shukura (Choo-koo-rah)- Buikhu's mother. Her name means "graceful"

Facts and mythological references:

- Everything Chione said about the _ba _and _ka. _ Until the _ka _passed through the Field of Reeds into Osiris's Land of the Dead, the _ba _remained on Earth to guard the dead's family.

- _Heka _can refer to either the ancient Egyptian god of magic or the use of magic. It literally means, "using the _ka." Heka _also assisted the sun god Ra in his journey across the sky by warding off evil spirits.


	5. Chapter 5

I plan to continue this story. This is a temporary update to let my readers know that I (formerly YamiNoEnigma) am working on the next installment of Prologue, and it will soon be arriving. Thanks for reading~


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